Battle of the Bells, Pt 3
by junealondra
Summary: "The rules are the same as before. You'll have to come at me with deadly force if you hope to succeed." - In which, Kakashi forces the remaining members of Team 7 to participate in our favorite drill. - Just a fluffy little oneshot, NaruSaku pairing.


**A/N: **Hello, World! This is part of the ongoing prompt challenge which I am having with my two best friends in the whole wide world, **Bruhaeven **and **Le Requiem**_. _They are both beautiful, amazing, talented writers and you should absolutely check out their writings :)

Onto actual story notes, now: Okay, so you know the drill with the bells that Kakashi makes Team 7 do when they are all small children and then makes Naruto and Sakura do again alone later? Well, this is like, what happens when he makes them do it again. It takes place after Naruto comes back to Konoha, but before they meet Sai and before any trying to save Sasuke shenanigans goes down.

**Also, this _is_ a oneshot - don't let the title confuse you! **

ENJOY.

**Prompt: Twisted**

* * *

><p>"You're twisted – you know that, right?"<p>

He ignored her, his uncovered eye roaming aimlessly over the pages of his book.

"The rules are the same as when we first met. You'll need to come at me with deadly force if you hope to succeed."

Sakura glared up at Kakashi and the two silver bells dangling from his fingers. She watched as his mask pulled around the very cocky smirk she imagined lay beneath it.

"C'mon, Kakashi-sensei! How many times are you going to make us do this stupid drill, huh?"

Sakura turned to look at Naruto, taking it all in with a bit of disgust– the jumpsuit, the messy hair, the dirt-stained face. He never really changed, did he?

He was stubborn and insolent as always, his blue, blue eyes showing an irritation that lay somewhere between boredom, apathy and an egocentric supremacy. But despite her teammate's whining and grumbling, there was a hint of a smile behind those eyes – a kind of nostalgia, perhaps.

Sakura knew how he felt; for once their emotions were in alignment. Although she too was a little annoyed, wondering _what_ exactly Kakashi hoped to teach them by forcing them into the drill yet again, there were happy memories attached to the task. Memories of a simpler time, when boyish rivalries and girlish crushes were the worst of their worries. Before their lives were taken over by visions of power, battle, and death.

But that was all very long ago.

Although the drill would be a welcome distraction (and maybe even a little fun), there were more important issues at hand - missions to be carried out. So, trying to ignore the memories that were yanking at her heart, Sakura turned back to her teacher.

"Honestly, Kakashi – shouldn't we be doing something more productive? We need to do some real training if we want to be of any use on missions."

Kakashi looked down at his two pupils and sighed. They'd grown up, for sure, but they still had a long ways to go.

"This is real training, Sakura. And I'll keep making you do it until you've learned everything you need to know, Naruto."

His good eye slowly drifted back towards the open book in his hand as he tried to ignore the cranky young ninjas before him.

"But Sensei – we haven't we already learned everything we need to from this drill?"

Beside Sakura, the blonde ninja was bouncing up and down impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah – what Sakura-chan said! We already _know_ all that Kakashi!"

Kakashi continued to read his book, more interested in its semi-erotic words than Sakura's irritation or Naruto's fidgeting. His voice was bored and he didn't even look up when addressing his former student.

"Well then, Naruto, would you like to tell me what exactly it is you learned from this drill?"

The blonde looked up, the wheels in his mind turning – albeit slowly. His face screwed up and he reached a hand back to scratch his head; it was so easy to read his befuddlement.

"Uhhhh… well, I guess that the first time we learned – well, you know? I mean we…"

Sakura glanced over at her teammate, and after a brief mental face-palm, she saved him from making an even bigger fool of himself.

"Teamwork. We learned the importance of working together and getting along – taking care of each other. And last time we –"

It was Naruto's turn to cut her off, and he did so with an extra large smirk on his face.

"Oh – I know! I know this one! We learned the dangers of being such an pervy ero-sensei, right, Kakashi? Right?"

Even Sakura couldn't help but smile at the thought of their teacher's "weakness."

Kakashi snapped his book shut loudly, and turned his steely gaze onto the smug looking blonde. The last time they had practiced the drill… Well, it wasn't one of his finest moments as a ninja.

"Alright, alright. Last time you were able to – erm.. determine my 'weakness', so to speak… _But_, while extremely clever, the stunt you two pulled won't work when you're fighting against the real enemy. Or me, for that matter. This time I'll be prepared for any of your more _unscrupulous_ moves."

Naruto's face broke into a devilish grin. Prepared – That's what _he_ thought.

"Anyhow, you're going to have to learn how to raise your game, surprise your enemy, and really take your fighting to the next level. Now, if you two are finally through with all your questions, we will begin."

* * *

><p>Sakura and Naruto took off into the woods once the drill had begun. Kakashi, often said to be the fiercest jounin in the Village, would be a strong opponent, and they would have to devise a plan if they hoped to get the bells.<p>

The remaining members of Team 7 sat together in silence for a while – both trying to figure out a solution to the problem.

"What are you thinking, Naruto?"

Sakura saw the corner of his lip twitch, and suddenly, she was worried about what his answer might be.

"Well, I… I _might _have an idea, but…"

Sakura waited, not so patiently, for a moment before her gaze turned into an irritated glare.

"But _what_ Naruto?"

He turned to face her completely, his eyes twinkling dangerously.

"But I don't think you'll like it, Sakura-chan"

He leaned over, and placing a hand on her shoulder, crept in close to her ear and whispered something softly.

Sakura's face turned a deep red hue and her eyes widened in shock while her expression simultaneously hardened.

"You're right, Naruto. I absolutely _don't _like that plan."

* * *

><p>Sakura groaned. They'd been sitting on the ground for maybe four hours now (though the only real indication of passing time was the sun slowly setting) and her butt hurt. She was itching to move or fight, or do <em>anything<em> really that wasn't sitting on the dirty ground picking at bits of grass.

"Ughhh. Naruto…. Can we please just _do _something? I can't take this."

He was sitting next to her, leaning against a gnarly old tree. His blue eyes whipped around to look into hers – a weary boredom swimming in their green.

Naruto let out a humming sigh, thinking it was strange that for once his patience had lasted longer than Sakura's.

"We just have to wait a little bit longer, Sakura-chan. We just have to wait until he starts to get bored..."

Sakura huffed, sending pink strands of hair flying.

"I _hate_ being bored…"

* * *

><p><em>What are they doing?<em>

Kakashi crept slowly between the trees, completely silent. They had been taking a while, but he'd been content to wait for the two to try and ambush him… until he finished his book, that is. It had been nearly two hours since he'd finished the (dirty) novel, and they'd started the drill about three hours before that.

He'd been standing, on alert, for so long that he could feel his concentration fading. He could feel a dangerous boredom building in his limbs. He had to do something to get his focus back.

So that's how he found himself tip-toeing through the woods – scouting the two ninjas that were _supposed_ to be stalking him.

It didn't take him long to find them. He could sense them, smell them, hear them; together, about five hundred paces north. Kakashi jumped into the nearest tree, swinging and leaping from branch to branch to find a perch where he could spy on the two.

He was graceful, soundless, bounding from tree to –

Crunch. Wobble. Catch.

He just barely caught himself.

Kakashi's unmasked eye grew wide. He looked down at the scene that was unfolding, about fifty feet below and perhaps a hundred feet away from him, unable to shake the shock out of his system.

The two ninjas, his two students, they were…

Oh, god.

Sakura was pressed up against the tree trunk. One of Naruto's hands was running through pink hair, pulling and twisting, while the other was on her waist, her clothing riding dangerously high as his hand moved over her body.

What were they saying?

He couldn't stop watching – it was sickening, but somehow he loved it. Kakashi unconsciously reached up to his face, and his hand pushed his forehead protector up so his sharingan eye could take it all in.

_She's pressing into him, he's wishing she would feel his pain, they're moving together on the outside, but she wants to know the way his mind works on the inside. It's rough, but it's cautious. It's been building for so long now. It wants to be beautiful, but they want it too badly to wait. _

_She rips her face away from his, gasping for air, for the breath he'd taken out of her. _

"_Well – that's one way to cure boredom, huh?"_

_She pauses, smiling and still fighting to get her body to work again before continuing._

"_Do you think Kakashi is –"_

"_Shhhh, I think…"_

That was it.

He pulled the protector back over his eye, not wanting to see anymore, and jumped down from the tree to the ground below. They were in the middle of training – they should know better than to, than to….

He shuddered. It was too weird. It was so wrong.

The drill was over. There was no way these two could be trusted on a mission if they couldn't even stay focused on a simple drill for more than a few hours.

He was sorely disappointed.

* * *

><p>"Not yet, Sakura…" He was still pressed against her, breathing into her ear.<p>

He listened as Kakashi's footsteps grew closer and closer.

"Naruto. Sakura." Kakashi's voice was harsh, giving away the true nature behind the kind teacher and caring friend his students knew him as. He truly was a terrifying adversary.

The two ninjas turned to look at Kakashi who saw right past the mock-surprise on Naruto's face. The blonde wasn't surprised, and he wasn't a good liar.

_Oh, shit._ _What have they done?_

He still had the upper-hand though, as the two were tangled together, pressed against the tree trunk – vulnerable.

Suddenly, Kakashi's eye narrowed as he looked at Naruto, then Sakura, then back to Naruto and then…

"Now!"

_Oh fuck._

He heard the tell-tale whoosh of air before the attack. Then the soft jingle as the bells were cut from his belt.

He whipped around.

"Sakura. Nice of you to join us."

Kakashi turned back to Naruto, who had an evil smirk on his face, and watched as the Sakura he held broke into an identical devilish grin before disappearing in a cloud of _poof!_

_Shadow clone. Well played._

They'd gotten him again. He should have seen right through the clone with his sharingan, but he'd been so shocked, so _disgusted_, he didn't _want _to see anything more – he'd forgotten to react. He'd lost focus. Kakashi sighed in defeat, but inside a bit of him was relieved. He didn't know what he would have done if they'd actually been…

_Wait, but if they didn't then…_

"…so, you made out with yourself, Naruto?"

Naruto's mouth twitched into an even cockier grin, and Sakura, embarrassed for agreeing to such a perverted plan, turned a dark red that clashed with her pale pink hair. Kakashi just looked nauseous.

"And you thought _I _was the twisted one…"

"Oh c'mon, let's not kid ourselves, we're all twisted."

"Hey! Leave me out of this – Naruto. It was all _your_ idea, anyway."

He looked at her, smirking, and she blushed harder.

"I know."

Kakashi caught whiff of a strange vibe between the two. He didn't like it.

"Okay – just… Go home, you two. Let's just pretend this never happened. Tomorrow we'll get back to some real training."

_Twisted little brats… We're _never_ doing this drill again._

* * *

><p>"So what makes you think you're better than us, huh Sakura-chan?"<p>

There was a bit of tension between the two as they walked home together. It wasn't as if they had actually... But, at the same time, it had _looked _like they had, hadn't it? What did that mean? Did that mean anything at all?

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Naruto stepped in front of her on the dirt road, putting a sandaled foot on either side of hers as she stumbled to a halt.

"What makes you think you're not twisted, too?"

Sakura felt – she felt _something_… It was – She tried to shake it off, clearing her mind.

"What – _no._ No, I'm just, _not._"

He leaned in to whisper, his face just spaces from hers.

"I think you are."

He brought his lips to hers. Her eyes flew open, wide with indignation.

"You're twisted for thinking you could deny _this_."

He made a sweeping gesture to himself; the jumpsuit, the messy hair, the dirt-stained face. Sakura took it all in, with just a bit of emotion that made her stomach lurch. She'd thought it had been disgust, but maybe it was something different, maybe it was…

Her heart was pounding. Her head was throbbing. She felt like she might throw up.

She took a deep breath in, and with her eyes closed, took a small step forward, getting rid of the space that remained between their bodies.

Sakura relaxed, just barely, as arms, strong, but tentative, pulled her even closer.

Naruto felt her lips curl against his into a twisted smile.

Something inside him fluttered.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Whee! Yay fluff-a-luff! I hope you all enjoyed - this is my very first Naruto piece (like, _evar_), so I'd love to know what you all think! I was a wee bit worried about characterizations (esp. Kakashi, who seems _maybe _a little out of character), but since it's so light and fluffy I thought maybe it still worked. Thoughts? I wanna know what yo thinking people!

Basically, I would love some reviews peeps - so don't leave me hangin'! :)

ps. I disclaim everything you recognize, none of it belongs to me.


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